Tuesday, May 7, 2013

While there have been no new military attacks on Syria since Sunday
morning, something more peculiar happened in the past few hours, when
according to Akamai and various other Internet traffic trackers, Syria
has literally gone "dark", or, as Umbrella Security Labs describes it, as if "Syria has largely disappeared from the Internet."

Last week, HSLDA sent a nationwide alert asking you to call your U.S.
senators and urge them to sign a letter from Senator Chuck Grassley
exhorting Congress to defund the federal government’s role in the Common
Core Standards and Curriculum.

These senators understand that parents and teachers, not federal
education bureaucrats, should decide how and what children learn. They
understand that the Common Core has become a one-size-fits-all approach
to education and that the federal government has no business using tax
dollars to entice the states to adopt the Common Core. You can read the letter here.
And please take a moment to send these nine senators a short thank-you
email for standing against nationalized education. You can send them an
email from this page.

Speaking Out

The Senate was not alone in opposing the Common Core. Representative
Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO) also circulated a letter to his colleagues in
the House opposing Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s support of the
Common Core, as well as the national databases which are threatening the
privacy of children’s data. Thirty-three other representatives also
signed the letter. You can read Rep. Luetkemeyer’s letter here, and if your congressman signed onto the letter, please thank him or her.
You can use this link to find your representative and send a thank-you email for signing onto Rep. Luetkemeyer’s letter.

HSLDA is grateful to these members of Congress for exposing the
dangers of the Common Core.

HSLDA will be providing more information
about the dangers of the Common Core in the coming days and weeks. We
encourage you to continue to fight against national curriculum
standards, national testing, and national databases in your states by
contacting your governor and state legislators and sharing your
concerns. Homeschoolers know that a one-size-fits-all approach to
education is bad for children and dangerous to our fundamental right to
direct the education and upbringing of our children.

The following essay is by William Blake, who has been held in
solitary confinement for nearly 26 years. Currently he is in
administrative segregation at Elmira Correctional Facility, a maximum
security facility located in south central New York State. In 1987,
Blake, then 23 and in county court on a drug charge, murdered one deputy
and wounded another in a failed escape attempt. He was sentenced to 77
years to life. This powerful essay earned Blake an Honorable Mention in the Yale Law Journal’s Prison Law Writing Contest, chosen from more than 1,500 entries. He
describes here in painstaking detail his excruciating experiences over
the last quarter-century. “I’ve read of the studies done regarding the
effects of long-term isolation in solitary confinement on inmates, seen
how researchers say it can ruin a man’s mind, and I’ve watched with my
own eyes the slow descent of sane men into madness—sometimes not so
slow,” Blake writes. “What I’ve never seen the experts write about,
though, is what year after year of abject isolation can do to that
immaterial part in our middle where hopes survive or die and the spirit
resides.” That is what Blake himself seeks to convey in his essay. —Lisa
Dawson

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“You deserve an eternity in
hell,” Onondaga County Supreme Court judge Kevin Mulroy told me from his
bench as I stood before him for sentencing on July 10, 1987. Apparently
he had the idea that God was not the only one qualified to make such
judgment calls.

Judge Mulroy wanted to “pump six buck’s
worth of electricity into [my] body,” he also said, though I suggest
that it wouldn’t have taken six cent’s worth to get me good and dead. He
must have wanted to reduce me and The Chair to a pile of ashes. My
“friend” Governor Mario Cuomo wouldn’t allow him to do that, though, the
judge went on, bemoaning New York State’s lack of a death statute due
to the then-Governor’s repeated vetoes of death penalty bills that had
been approved by the state legislature.

Governor Cuomo’s publicly
expressed dudgeon over being called a friend of mine by Judge Mulroy was
understandable, given the crimes that I had just been convicted of
committing. I didn’t care much for him either, truth be told. He built
too many new prisons in my opinion, and cut academic and vocational
programs in the prisons already standing.

I know that Judge Mulroy was not nearly
alone in wanting to see me executed for the crime I committed when I
shot two Onondaga County sheriff’s deputies inside the Town of Dewitt
courtroom during a failed escape attempt, killing one and critically
wounding the other. There were many people in the Syracuse area who
shared his sentiments, to be sure. I read the hateful letters to the
editor printed in the local newspapers; I could even feel the anger of
the people when I’d go to court, so palpable was it. Even by the
standards of my own belief system, such as it was back then, I deserved
to die for what I had done. I took the life of a man without just cause,
committing an act so monumentally wrong that I could not have argued
that it was unfair had I been required to pay with my own life.

What nobody knew or suspected back then,
not even I, on that very day I would begin suffering a punishment that I
am convinced beyond all doubt is far worse than any death sentence
could possibly have been. On July 10, 2012, I finished my 25th
consecutive year in solitary confinement, where at the time of this
writing I remain. Though it is true that I’ve never died and so don’t
know exactly what the experience would entail, for the life of me I
cannot fathom how dying any death could be harder or more terrible than
living through all that I have been forced to endure for the last
quarter-century.

And yet, according to recent polling data, the strategy isn’t
working. Despite the best efforts of the perpetual demonization machine,
Rasmussen finds the following: “On the general question of
‘nullification,’ 44 percent believe states should have the right to
block any federal laws they disagree with on legal grounds. Thirty-six
percent disagree and 20 are undecided.”

International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde criticized the U.S.
government's budget policies as too tight on Tuesday, in an appearance
in Amsterdam that was interrupted by student protestors.

Lagarde said the U.S. government's debt reduction plans are too abrupt,
including the $85 billion in federal budget cuts known as the sequester.
She said that the current policies would lower the U.S. economy's
growth rate.

Gun homicides have dropped steeply in the United States since their peak
in 1993, a pair of reports released Tuesday showed, adding fuel to
Congress' battle over whether to tighten restrictions on firearms.

A study released Tuesday by the government's Bureau of Justice
Statistics found that gun-related homicides dropped from 18,253 in 1993
to 11,101 in 2011. That's a 39 percent reduction.

Another report by the private Pew Research Center found a similar
decline by looking at the rate of gun homicides, which compares the
number of killings to the size of the country's population. It found
that the number of gun homicides per 100,000 people fell from 7 percent
in 1993 to 3.6 percent in 2010, a drop of 49 percent.

Both reports also found the rate of nonfatal crimes involving guns was also down by around 70 percent over that period.

The trend in firearm-related homicides is part of a broad nationwide
decline in violent crime over the past two decades, including incidents
not involving firearms.

The Justice study also said that in 2011, about 70 percent of all homicides were committed with a firearm, mainly a handgun.

Stop the Riddell Amendment: NO CHANGES TO SECTION 12 OF HB 937

Everybody:
Get it out on forums and start calling your House reps. Tell them to
oppose the Riddell amendment for HB 937 . He wants a 7 year bar on
anybody who gets their rights restored, after previously having been
adjudicated incompetent, before getting a concealed carry handgun
permit. GRNC might buy into 1 year, but anybody who goes to the lengths
(and the evaluations) necessary for restoration of gun rights should be
sufficiently vetted for a permit. So deliver the message: No changes to
Section 12 of the bill.

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!

EMAIL HOUSE REPUBLICANS: Use the copy and paste list below to deliver a clear message that you expect them to pass HB 937 without ammendments.

CALL & EMAIL YOUR NC HOUSE REP: Let them know you expect them to vote against all weakening amendments and for final passage of HB 937. Find your rep HERE or by going to: http://www.ncleg.net/representation/WhoRepresentsMe.aspx

Contact Information Copy and paste email addresses for House Republicans:

DELIVER THIS MESSAGE

I strongly urge you to pass House Bill 937, “Amend Various Firearms
Laws” by passing the bill without weakening amendments such as the
Riddell amendment.

It is past time that we are able to defend ourselves and our families
while eating at dinner restaurants. It is past time that law-abiding
faculty and staff are able to adequately defend themselves while
traveling to and from work.

Your constituents have a fundamental right to bear arms for defense.
It is your responsibility to help remove infringements on this right.
This is why NC gun owners elected pro-Second Amendment legislators in an
election that went liberal in other states.

We worked hard for you. Now it is your turn to return the favor.

I will be monitoring your actions via Grass Roots North Carolina
legislative alerts, and rest assured I will hold legislators accountable
for their votes.

As police and the FBI try to piece together how the three women and a
6-year-old girl, who police believe is the daughter of one of the
women, remained captive in a house for more than a decade in a densely
populated section of Cleveland, the women were released Tuesday from a
local hospital and returned to their families.

The women were identified as Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight.
The three were treated in the MetroHealth Emergency Department Monday
night and released on Tuesday morning. Authorities would not comment
further on their conditions, saying only that they looked to be healthy
and in need of a good meal. The women all lived within two miles of the
suspect's home.

Cruz said he was concerned that the conference report — which cannot be
filibustered — would be used to raise the nation’s debt ceiling. He
asked that Reid amend his motion to go to conference to make out of
order any provisions raising taxes or raising the debt ceiling.

Reid
said Cruz had a chance to amend the Senate budge, which raises $975
billion in new tax revenue from tax reform, when it was considered on
the floor.

He said Cruz’s request to eliminate all taxes in a final House-Senate budget was absurd.

“The senator from Texas was on the losing side ... now he wants us to
adopt the losing side’s view or we cannot go to conference,” Reid said.

“My friend from Texas is like a schoolyard bully,” Reid added.

"He pushes everybody around and is losing and instead of
playing the game according to the rules, he not only takes the ball home
with him, but he changes the rules — that way no one wins except the
bully who tries to indicate to people that he has won."

Cruz, a Tea Party darling whose rhetoric has sometimes raised eyebrows
among Republicans, shot back that “I wasn’t aware we are in the
schoolyard.”

Amid all the heated, emotional advocacy of gun control, have you ever
heard even one person present convincing hard evidence that tighter gun
control laws have in fact reduced murders?

Think about all the states, communities within states, as well as
foreign countries, that have either tight gun control laws or loose or
non-existent gun control laws. With so many variations and so many
sources of evidence available, surely there would be some compelling
evidence somewhere if tighter gun control laws actually reduced the
murder rate.

And if tighter gun control laws don’t actually reduce the murder
rate, then why are we being stampeded toward such laws after every
shooting that gets media attention?

Have the media outlets that you follow ever even mentioned that some
studies have produced evidence that murder rates tend to be higher in
places with tight gun control laws?

The dirty little secret is that gun control laws do not actually
control guns. They disarm law-abiding citizens, making them more
vulnerable to criminals, who remain armed in disregard of such laws.

Our
next Georgia Hinson Rifle Clinics (2) will take place on 10 & 11
May at Pastor Weaver's farm near Fitzgerald, Georgia. Both Clinics will
begin at 8:30AM and end around 4:30PM. Our registration fee is $20 per
student/shooter. This will include the Dinner meal. Please respond
quickly as we have a tendency to fill up quickly.

I don't know
where else in the world that you can get this type of instruction for
$20 (cash) per clinic. I will register you for the clinic when I receive
a $10 non-refundable deposit from you. We only have room for 15
students each day, so sign up quickly. My address is below.

I know
that it is very difficult to find 22 long rifle ammo right now. So, we
have cut the number of rounds you will need down to 200. Please begin
right now looking for ammo (if you need it) because it will be hard to
find.

If you want to come and can't find any ammo, give me a call at 912.618.8112.
I have a very limited amount of my stock that I will be willing to sell
for $.10 per round (my replacement cost) to those that give me their
word of honour that they don't have what they need to shoot the course. I
don't want to sell my ammo to replace yours. Only to help you shoot the
course and I only have a very limited amount.

I you want to come,
please reply as soon as possible. I will send everyone who does a list
of equipment, directions and motels (if needed).

For Georgia Independence,
Ed WolfeP.O. Box 91Newington, Georgia 30446

April 2013 Free Magnolia

The April 2013 issue (vol. 7, no. 2) of The Free Magnolia is in the LS office.

The lead article is "A Lesson For the South: Sinn Fein and the Dail Eireann."

Other articles include:

"Le Deuxieme Sexe" (the Second Sex) by Robert Salyer;

"Fineness of Manner and Expression" by Pam Smith;

"Look Away, Dixieland" by Michael Cushman;

"The Magicians" by Michael Hill and

"Hundred Year Horizon: A Review of At Home in Dogwood Mudlhole" by Michael Tuggle.

Help us get The Free Magnolia distributed all over Dixie.

Place your order today.

As usual, 100 copies go for $20 (postpaid) and can be ordered online at www.dixienet.org or by mail at the LS office at:

So the Spring NC PatCon was a huge success. My brother in my tribe and I
drove 12 hours from Pennsyltucky to Tarboro, NC on Thursday so that we
could be there Friday for the TCCC class on Friday. Needless to say, we
got in at midnight set up camp, had some beers, laughed about stupid
stuff all while under the canopy of twinkling stars and cackling coyotes
off in the distance. We went to bed at about 3 a.m. and at about 5:30
a.m. the picture above let us know once again who is boss on the
property. If its your first time on the property and you have never
heard a peacock, I can guarantee that when you do and its dark, you
would swear someone is being murdered.

We woke up, crawled out of our tents, and made some coffee on the gel
stove to go with our pecan rolls we brought. Some of the others came
over to say good morning. Some were familiar faces and some were new.
Class was to start at 0900, so we had about an hour to wake up with some
crunchy coffee. SFMedic lead the charge with starting the class. We
were scheduled to be in class from 0900 to 1800.

We were truly blessed to have a trauma nurse as well as two other doctors in our class.

Remembrance

Winners: Navy Cross Nguyen Van Kiet & MOH Thomas R. Norris This week’s Medal of Honor hero is one of a handful of Navy SEALs awarded the MOH in the Vietnam War. Norris snuck behind enemy lines with a South Vietnamese Navy petty officer rescued two downed pilots in 1972–when most of our resources had been pulled from the country. Interesting to note that later year, Norris was himself rescued by another SEAL Michael E. Thornton.More @ Medal of Honor Roll Call

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Core Creek Militia

==============================My sixth great grandfather, his wife, and five of his six children were killed in battle with the Tuscarora Indians at Core Creek, NC.

The Seven Blackbirds

==============================My third great grandfather was an Ensign in the Revolutionary War, and saved his unit's flag after being wounded at the Battle of Brandywine. He was also at Kingston (Kinston), Wilmington, Charleston, Two Sisters and Augusta. He was at the defeat at Brier Creek and also Bee Creek.

Requiem Aeternam -
Eternal Rest Grant unto Them
==============================
My second great grandfather was killed in action on May 3, 1863 at the Battle of Chancellorsville.
=============================
My great grandfather and great uncle knew all the men in the "Civil War Requiem" video as they were part of the 53rd NC which was the sole unit defending Fort Mahone. (Fort Mahone was named "Fort Damnation" by the Yankees) *Handpicked men of the 53rd (My great grandfather was one of these) made the final, night assault at Petersburg in an attempt to break Grant's line. This was against Fort Stedman which was a few miles to the slight northeast. They initially succeeded, but reinforcements drove them back. This video is made from photographs which were taken the day after the 53rd evacuated the lines the night before to begin the retreat to Appomattox. I have many more pictures taken by the same photographer, one of these shows a 14 year old boy and the other is the famous picture of the blond, handsome soldier with his musket.
===========================
*General Gordon promised the men a gold medal and 30 days leave if they accomplished their task and many years after the War my great grandfather wrote General Gordon, who was then governor of Georgia about this incident. They exchanged several letters which I have framed. See first link below.
===========================
*The Attack On Fort Stedman
============================
"His Colored Friends"
============================
Lee's Surrender
=============================
My Black NC Kinfolks
============================
Punished For Being Caught!

Great Grandfather Koonce

He was a drummer boy in the WBTS, survived the War only to die a few years later. He was caught in an ice storm on his way home, but instead of seeking shelter, continued on his horse until the end. His clothes had to be cut off and he died a few days later.